Under Wraps: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 1) (3 page)

Even though the woman’s back was to me, I was suddenly blinded by a flare of pale blue light that exploded from something on her chest. It cast shadows along the ceiling that skittered across the cave like a swarm of bugs.

“Or not,” Nas said, anger turning her words caustic. The sound of millions of tiny scurrying legs filled my ears as I hoisted myself to my feet, blood dripping from the corner of my mouth. I was a big guy who towered over everyone, and this girl was no exception. It was time to use my size to my advantage.

I reached out, grabbing Nas by the shoulder and jerking her around. She spun, losing her balance and toppling to the sandy ground in a cloud of dust. I threw myself on top of her, pinning her beneath my two hundred fifty pound body. I expected air to whoosh out of her or something, but instead she just glared at me, hatred distorting her otherwise pretty features into an animalistic mask. With one, quick movement, she smacked me across the face with the back of her left fist.

My head snapped back, and I was pretty sure a few teeth came loose. Her knee came up then, striking me between the legs and breaking everything inside me. All sensation distilled down to a single point of indescribable agony. I collapsed, rolling off of her as nausea swelled up within me, my stomach clenching so hard that I was pretty sure I was going to die.

Nas scrambled to her feet just as Aziza’s giant golden staff whipped through the air and caught her broadside across the temple with a thud. She careened sideway, smacking into the rocky wall and falling forward onto her knees. Her blue sapphire wasp pendant hung loose in the air, wings flapping and legs thrashing as it tried to climb back into Nas’ dress.

Before Nas could even get to her feet, Aziza grabbed the writhing insect and yanked. The golden chain snapped free with a shriek that made me cringe. With a sound like cracking thunder, blue light exploded from a spot in the center of Nas’ forehead, filling the small cave like an arc flash.

“No!” Nas screamed, her words shriveled and dry sounding. Her clothes vanished in an instant, as musty wrappings snaked up her body and cinched down on her like an invisible spider was wrapping her up.

In the time it took me to blink, Nas was completely ensconced in mummy chic. Aziza tossed the wasp pendant to the ground and muttered a few words I didn’t understand. They were probably Egyptian.

The wasp exploded into a million scintillating shards of metal that circled Nas like spinning, whirring bits of sapphire shrapnel. It collapsed in on itself in a flash of color that made spots dance in front of my eyes.

I turned away, shielding my face until the glare died down. When I looked a moment later, a golden sarcophagus etched with a billion hieroglyphics stood in the spot where Nas had been. Aziza smirked at me. Her face was shrouded in amethyst light as she placed her outstretched hand on the metal lid. There was a shriek that reminded me of a clarion call. The entire thing vanished. No wisp of smoke, no flash of light. One second it was there, the next it wasn’t.

“Wow,” I said, a little too much awe in my voice.

“You’re more of a lover than a fighter, aren’t you?” she asked, glancing at me, cheeks flushed.

“What?” I replied, fire spreading along my own cheeks. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

“It’s supposed to mean you’re a pretty horrible warrior. You’re a werewolf. You’re supposed to be able to beat up one tiny girl without help.” Aziza put her hands on her hips and stared at me, amusement in her eyes. “Who trained you, a one-armed baboon?”

I sighed, shaking my head as I got to my feet and wobbled toward the wall, my family jewels still aching. I knew that in a few minutes I’d be all healed up, but right now that didn’t make me feel any better. Why? She was right. I was a pretty terrible fighter without my wolf.

My Alpha had tried to train me in the ways of Wolf-Fu, and no, it wasn’t actually called that. I sucked at it. I sucked at fighting in general when I wasn’t in werewolf form. To be fair, most werewolves did. When you can transform into an eight foot tall beast with near-unlimited healing, razor-sharp claws, and a mouth full of dagger-like teeth, you usually didn’t need training. You usually just ate whatever was trying to beat you up. Especially since you had twice your normal strength and speed in wolf form.

“It’s polite to respond when people speak to you,” Aziza said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ve never fought a mummy before, and you didn’t change.” She grinned at me. “But don’t worry, you’ll get another shot.”

Chapter 4

Aziza was right, but don’t tell her I said that… ever. I had gotten pretty good at fighting mummies once I learned a couple things. They didn’t need to breathe, and they didn’t feel pain, not in the traditional sense. Unfortunately, that was where the similarities between them ended. Depending on how they had been mummified, they might have vastly different strengths and weaknesses. It made fighting the last twenty mummies a unique experience I didn’t particularly enjoy.

I smashed my fist down on the mummy’s face, shattering his snapping teeth into fragments that tore into my knuckles and left a crimson smear across his cheek. The mummy’s head snapped backward, bouncing off the stone entrance to the pyramid with a sharp crack.

“Stop struggling,” I growled, my voice low and feral as I thrust my hand into his mouth, trying to grab onto the pendant he had swallowed a moment before. Thankfully, I could still see the chain dangling from the corner of his mouth. I wasn’t going to have to do a mummy-sectomy… this time. If I had a nickel for every time a mummy tried to swallow his pendant, I’d have an ass load of nickels.

He sputtered, spraying blood and saliva across my face. My stomach revolted as I resisted the urge to wipe myself. He bit me. Pain exploded in my fingers. I howled in frustration, my hand transforming into a mass of muscle, fur, and sinew without me realizing it.

“Look out!” Aziza cried from behind me as I grabbed hold of the pendant’s chain and tore my hand sideways out of the mummy’s jaws, ripping apart his face in a cloud of blood and flesh.

“What?” I asked, glancing over at her as a curved Egyptian sword tore into my back and burst through my chest in a spray of blood and thicker bits. I toppled forward, my body forgetting to breathe as the beast inside me raged.

I turned my head, trying to see my attacker as the world went sideways. A fist hit me in the side of the head, and I flopped uselessly onto my side, still in too much shock to really feel the pain. Instead, it felt more like a foreign object had been wedged into me. The pendant slipped from my grip and hit the sticky sand with a plop.

The mummy released his hold on the khopesh still embedded in my back and seized his pendant. Metallic silver light spilled through his fingers. His flesh flowed back together like watery clay, forming back into his normally ugly features. He stood, brushing my bleeding body aside like I was a gnat. He looked down on me, his huge pink lips curled into a hideous smile. Then he spat on me and a warm gooey glob of saliva smacked into my cheek.

“Aziza, did you think it would be so easy to take
me
down? I am Amon, first guard to the great pharaoh Imhotep. I am not some peasant for you to extinguish. Not some whelp to be locked in a cage.” He bent down and tore his curved khopesh from my body, and I screamed, agony shooting through me like molten lead.

He flicked his blade outward, spattering my blood on the sand beside him. “Nothing to say for yourself, girl?”

“Watch out,” Aziza said, not even raising her staff to defend herself.

“Watch out?” the mummy said, confusion filling his voice. “For what?”

“Him,” she replied, pointing her gleaming golden staff at me.

Amon glanced at me and snorted. “What is he going to do, jailer? Bleed on me to death?”

I gritted my teeth as the beast inside me raged, and thrashed, and screamed. I pushed one hand into the sand, gripping it as hard as I could. The smell of the forest hit me like I was standing in the middle of a Smokey the bear commercial. The wolf within me growled, and my own mouth elicited the same sound.

The mummy’s eyes widened as my flesh rippled. Things beneath my skin shifted and squirmed. It wasn’t painful, I know it always looked like it was, but it was quite the opposite. A strange sense of euphoria overtook me as fur cascaded down over my body, my skin filling out with the hard, lithe muscle of a predator. I craned my head up and howled at the blue sky above. Already, the wounds had stopped bleeding. In another moment, they would be gone.

I stood, flexing my claws, adrenaline coursing through my body, filling me up, making me feel invincible. I snarled, and my lips curled back to reveal my fangs. I took a step forward, my claws sinking into the sand.

The mummy backed up so quickly he fell on his butt in the sand. I licked my lips, the smell of his fear pungent and sweet. I tore forward, closing the distance in a single bound. I seized the mummy by the throat, tearing into his flesh with my teeth. Hot, warm blood filled my mouth.

I bit down and shook, the sound of tearing meat filling my ears like sweet music. A huge chunk of flesh came free in my jaws, and the mummy collapsed to the ground. He scrambled backward in a pool of blood and gore, one arm hanging uselessly at his side.

The taste of tin and sour rot filled my mouth. My vision went red around the edges as I spat out the vile, disgusting meat. The stench of foul death filled my nostrils. No… no, this thing wasn’t alive. He was unclean. He was not food.

“You are unclean!” I bellowed.

The creature beneath me scurried backward into a corner, trying to wedge himself between the stones like a disgusting, bleeding insect. I reached out, my claws ripping him open. Only… only there were no gooey, tasty inside bits. They weren’t there. Why weren’t they there?

I howled in frustration as I lifted his bleeding, torn carcass into the air, and the fear in his eyes was a small consolation. He screamed, swinging his blade at me, but it did not matter. Too quick for him to stop me, I grabbed the pretty, shiny object from his hand.

It shattered beneath my strength, exploding into a million sparks of pink flame. “Be gone!” I cried as his blade slipped from his hand and hit the sand with an empty thunk.

The creature wailed, screamed, and thrashed. The sound was like music to my ears. Strips of fabric burst forth from his torn garments and wrapped around his body, burying him beneath a blanket of linen. I dropped him, still struggling, to the sand and turned away.

“Please Aziza, I can tell you where Khufu is. I can tell you more…” he trailed off as Aziza’s eyes flashed in interest. “Don’t let me go this way…”

She rushed past me, grabbing the mummy by the shoulders and shaking him. His eyes began to dim, fading into little pin pricks as whirling shards of metal filled the air between us like a swarm of angry hornets.

“Where? Tell me where, and I will,” she lied. I knew because I could taste her lie in the air like sour candy, smell it on her skin like old milk.

“He’s after the Staff of Ra in the hidden city,” Amon said, his body stiffening.

“But only the priests of Ra…” she trailed off, thoughts blanketing her face as she stood up. The swarm descended like a cloud of angry crows in a whoosh that hurt my ears.

“Change back, Thes,” Aziza said, staring past me and into the distance. “We need to get to the temple of Ra before Khufu does something stupid. Maybe they can help us get to the staff...”

I shook my head. I did not want to go back to the soft, puny cage. I did not. I was strong. I wanted to hunt. To bite, to kill, to feed.

Aziza slapped me, hard enough to rattle my brain. “We don’t have time for this, Thes.”

I looked at her, and her face told me it was not the time, but that there would be a time… soon. My body melted back into its normal shape, all traces of my wounds gone.

The wolf within receded. It lay down in the back of my mind and licked its lips, yellow eyes burning into me as it buried its snout in its paws to wait.

“It’s getting harder to control,” I said, not to her or myself, just out loud.

“You need to get better at not getting beat up so much,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder as the last of my flesh shifted into place like it was made of flowing sand. “Then you wouldn’t need to change at the drop of a hat.”

I glared at her, my temples throbbing. “How about we trade? You attack the guy with the sword, and I’ll stand back looking pretty.”

“You think I’m pretty?” she asked, quirking a slender black eyebrow at me.

You know those moments where you can’t think of anything to say? You know, just know, that later when you’re waiting to drift off to sleep, you’ll think of a million and ten things you could have said that would be awesome? I had one of those moments.

I was quiet for so long, I actually watched her face harden into granite as she turned and stared off into the distance. “I’m not sure why I bother,” she mumbled, shaking her head so that her ebony hair fluttered around her head.

“I’ve been asking myself the same thing,” I muttered with a shrug. “Now, what are you talking about with the staff thing?”

“The Staff of Ra is the most powerful weapon in all of Egypt,” Aziza said, still not looking at me. “I should have known Khufu would go after it.”

I bent down and picked up the khopesh, still slick with my blood and stared at it. Khufu was already immensely powerful, but you could always have more power. Is that why he was going after it? For power? It seemed reasonable, but also… off.

“Why?” I asked at the risk of sounding dumb.

“I just didn’t think he would do it…” she said, but I wasn’t sure she was actually responding to me. She had a look in her eye that made me think she was talking to herself.

“Why?”

“Because you need the book of Thoth to recite the prayer to enter the hidden city of Ra. Then you have to ascend the steps of the great pyramid, fight through all of its denizens, and seize the staff. Then it must find you worthy.” Aziza spread her hands wide. “It’s like saying you’re going to go steal Thor’s hammer, except that might actually be easier. And yes, I know I shouldn’t even know what that is.”